davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
The Gerrymander.

The history of the word gerrymande,
is interesting. In 1911 the anti-Feder-
alists, or Republicans, as they were then
called, after bitter contest, succeeded
in electing their candidate for Governor
of Massachusetts, .Elbridge Gerry, and q
majority in both houses of the Legisla-
ture. In order to maintain this majority
in the future, they proceeded to rear
range the Sentorial districts OF the
State, which had hitherto been formed
without any division of counties, by d.
viding counties so as to secure an anti
Federalist majority, even though the
counties were, IN reality, strongly Fed
eral in sentiment. The Federalists pro-
tested. but in vain; the divisions were
made without even a consideration OF
the propriety of the act; the work was
sanctioned by the Governor, and became
law by his signature; wherefore his
political opponents soundly castigated
him through the newspapers'and at pub
lie meetings. In Essex County the ar
rangement of the districts in relation to
the towns was singular and absurd.
Russell, the veteran editor of the Boston
Sentinel, who had strcnuously opposed
the scheme, took map of that county
and coloring the selected towns, hung 1t
on the wall of his editorial room. One
day Gilbert Stuart, the eminent painter,
was in the room. and looking at the
map remarked that the colored town
ships resembled some monstrous animal.
He took pencil, and with few touches
drew a head, wings, claws and tail.
"There," said Stuart, ''that will do for
a salamander." Reyolds looking at the
hideous figure exclaimed: "Salamanderl
Call it gerrymander." An engraved
copy of this map was widely circulated
by Russell, and the word was immedi-
ately adopted into the national political
vocabulary as term of reproach for
those who change boundaries of districts
for partisan purpose.-Inter- Ocean.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
Unfamiliar with the Classics.

It was on a west-bound train. A
Boston young gentleman had struck up
Il conversational acquaintance with a
Detroit young lady.
"Do you like Smolett!"
"I-I guess I've never seen him.
Who's he withw
The Boston young gentleman started,
but, fearing that he had been misunder-
stood. he needed not the query.
"You are surely fond of FieldingS" he
continued.
"Oh, yes, it will do" replied the
Detroit girl, "but slugging is what like,
and you just wait till our big four get
after your bean caters-they'll make 'em
think its raining base balls out in the
back end of your park. u Chicago
Tribune.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
Pigmies Of Africa.

Herodotus speaks of plgnles as race
of little men and women living in Africa.
Since that day travellers have brought
back from that continent reports of such
people being seen or heard of in the in
terror. Of late it has been the fashion to
discredit Herodotus, and all writers who
repeat or corroborate his stories. AS it
happens, however, a German explorer,
DR.. Wolff, proves that the early writers
were correctly informed.
He has found in the country along a
south branch of the Congo whole villages
of tinv men and women of height not
more than four feet and seven inches.
They are known as Batua Their villages,
consisting of huts, are met with In clear
ings in the forests, which cover the
greater part of the country.
Among their neighbors the Batua are
regarded as little benevolent beings,
whose mission it is to provide the tribes
among whom they live with game and
palm wine. In exchange, maize and
bananas are given to the pigmies. These
happy relations between the little people
and their neighbors will remind the
reader of the way in which the fairies
and brownies used to be looked upon by
our ancestors.
The Batua excel in the art of climbing
palm trees to collect the sap, and in setting
traps for game. Their agility is almost
incredible. In hunting, they bound
through the high grass like grasshoppers,
and face the elephant, antelope and buffalo
with the greatest boldncss, shooting theil
arrows with rare precision, and following
up quickly with stroke of the lance
Youths Companion.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
WORDS OF WISDOM.

Avoid the company of those who talk
unkindly of other people.
True gladness doth not always speak;
joy bred and born but in the tongue Is
weak.
Men are apt to play with their health
and their lives as they do with their
clothes. ..-
In warm moments form your resolu-
ton, and in cool moments make that
resolution good.
There is visible labor, and there is an
invisible labor. To mediate is to labor,
to think is to act.
The man who gives his children habits
of industry provides for them better than
by giving them fortune.
He that does base thing in zeal for
his friend burns the golden thread that
ties their hearts together.
Admiration is forced tribute, and to
extort it from mankind (envious and
ignorant as they are) they must be taken
unawares.
Words are but the signs and counter
signs of knowledge, and their currency
should be strictly regulated by the capital
which they represent.
Pridc's chickens have bonny feathers,
but they are an expensive brood to rear;
they eat up everything, and are always
lean when brought to the market.
Let patience have her perfect work
and bring forth her celestial fruits. Trust
to God to weave your thread into the
great web, though the pattern shows it
not yet.
Grit is the grain of character. 1t may
generally be described as heroism mate
rialized, spirit and will thrust into heart,
brain and backbone, so as to form part
of the physical substance OF the man.
Every man takes care that his neighbor
shall not cheat him. But day comes
when he begins to care that he does not
cheat his neighbor. Then oil goes well.
He has changed his market cart into
chariot of the sun.
The fruits of the earth do not more
obviously require labor and cultivation
to prepare them for our use and subslst-
ence, than our faculties demand instruc-
tion and regulation in order to qualify
us to become upright and valuable mem
bers of society, useful to Others, or happy
in ourselves.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
The Art of War.

The command of large army tasks
the resources of the greatest mind: 1t
is one of the highest of human achieve
ments, and by common consent the first
rank of fame is accorded to the great
Generals. To move an army and to feed
it on the march requires a higher order
of generalship than to fight it. Thirty
hours without supplies would reduce the
best army to helpless mass of disorgan-
lied humanity. Food for the men,
forage for the animals must not o. be
provided, but must be at the precis1 spot
when wanted. Napoleon, the great mas
ter of the art of war, had ascorc OF mar
shals, any one of whom could fight a
great battle, and scarce one OF whom
could lead an army on the march. An
army on the march resembles nothing SO
much as an enormous serpent, stretched
out mile upon mile, and moving, alert
and watchful, with steady and lrrcsisti,
bic force. Let dangers threaten and 1t
hastily coils itself together and prepares
to avert or overcome the danger. Shrunk
to fraction of its former dimensions, 1t
shows its fangs and is ready for attack OF OF
defense. The danger overpast, the great
mass unfolds its coils again and stretches
out its huge proportions in progressive
movement. The brain of this mighty
animal, the supreme mind that controls
its every motion, is the general in chief
Chicago Herald.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
Washing the Hair.

"Peoplc become bald from washing
the head" said an English barber to a
New York Sun reporter. "The use Of
water on the scalp may make a man feel
better for time, but you will notice
that the hair becomes dry and brittle
afterward. The water and subsequent
rubbing with towel dry up the oil in the
roots, and in time the hair becomes dead
and drops out. In England people never
think Of washing the hair. A good
comb and stiff brush are all that are
needed to keep the head clean. The
women often spend hours in combing out
their hair, and that is the most laborious
part of maids work. Instead of sham
booming, English BARRIERS use a machine
shaped like little barrel and covered
with stiff bristles. This is run by small
gas engine, and will winnow every speck
of dirt out of a mans head in few
minutes. have heard there are somein
use in this city, but have never seen
onn -
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Italian astronomers say the world is
eight million years old, and has been
peopled about fifty millions.
The scanals" on the surface of Mars
extend from sea to sea across the planets
continent, and are about fifteen miles
wide.
The reptiles of Brazil are now reported
by Prof. E. D. Cope to number sixty-two
species twelve being newly discovereO,
of which eighteen are batrachians, fifteen
lizards and twenty-nine snakes.
The height of q proposed exhibition
tower in Paris is so great as to render
hydraulic lift impossible, and huge screw
and nut, pressing cage up and down,
have been substituted, insuring safety
and celebrity.
The red stars above the ninth magni.
tude have been catalogued by Mr. G. F.
Chambers after sixteen years of labor.
The list gives I'll stars as distinctly
reddish or orange, of which not more
than dozen are really ruby or carmine.
Among the many masses of meteoric
iron which have been described, only
nine, according to Prof. W. E. Hidden,
have been seen to fall, the places and
dates being: Agram, Croatia, May 26,
1751; Charlotte, Tenn, Aug. 1, 1880;
Braunau, Bohemia, July IA, 1S47; Tabarz,
Saxony, Oct. 1s, 1854; Victoria West,
Africa, in 1862; Nejed, Arabia, Spring OF
1865; Nedagolia, India, Jan: %, 1870;
Rowton, Shropshire, England, April 20,
1876; Mazapii, Mexico, Nov. 81, 1885.
The increasing difficulty of adding to
the worlds stock of knowledge of the
Arctic regions is turning the intention OF
explorers to the more distant but freshel
fields for research lying about the South
Pole. An Antarctic expedition is now
being fitted out by Baron Nordenskjold,
and is expected to leave Sweden in the
Autumn for an absence of eighteen
months; while it is probable that during
the next few years several other expedi'
tions will be attracted to the unknown ice
seas of the Southern Hemisphere.
The demand for cheap aluminium has
stimulated researches in every possible
direction. Mr.. James MacClear in a
paper before the Society of Chemical
Industry describes new method for
manufacturing sodium and potassium
cheaply. As now made according to the
Deville method aluminium depends upon
sodium. With caustic soda at $55 ton
the metallic sodium costs about 25 cents a
pound, allowing II cents for fuel and
materials. With sodium at this price
aluminium can probably be put on the
market at 81 pound, or about one-fourtn
of its present value.
1t is fact worth noting that no comet,
so far as is,known, has ever come in con-
tact with the earth, or mingled its sub
stance with the earth's atmosphere: The
nearest approach ever observed was
Lexell's comet of ITO, which approached
to within 1,4OO, 900 miles of the earth,
and subtended an angle of 2 de.
grees % minutes, the largest apparent
diameter yet observed in any
comet. 1t has not not been seen
since ITO, though an orbit was COM
plcted for it of only five and half years,
and astronomers are of the opinion that
perturbation by Jupiter may have
changed its orbit to one of long period.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
English and American Hands.

Mrs. John Sherwood says that the
American hand is smaller than the Eng
lish hand, but the nails are not as hand
some. "The English nails are almost
universally rosy and shell-like, and cat to
rounded, slightly tapering point: kept
always scrupulously clean. The skin at
the base is pushed back to show the onyx,
q little white half lf-moon. This onyx is
carefully cultivated and polished by the
Creoles of New Orleans, to show that
they have no black blood in their veins.
No matter how fair the complexion, the
valuable insignia of pure blood is want
ing to the octoroon if the onyx is clouded.
With persons who employ manicure the
onyx develops every day more and more.
With those who are careless of this pre-
cious gem of beautiful hand, the onyx
is sometimes completely hidden"
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
Turkish Baths.

The bathing establishments, or 8amoms,
consist of large octagonal or circular halls,
paved with fag-stones, around which run
stone seats or very hard divans. In these
halls, which are heated to excess and
filled with steam, the bathers have them.
selves washed, rubbed and shampooed
by employees called telaks, who, with
their hands encased in hair gloves, knead
the flesh vigorously until it becomes
clean flexible, and soft like satin.
Men 60 to the bath singly, and remain
there only an hour or two; but women
go there in parties, and sometimes pass
the entire day there, drinking syrups,
smoking cigarettes, eating rhat louk0un'
and sweetmeats, and sleeping on divans
or in small beds placed around the bath
room.
The exterior of the hamams presents
nothing very remarkable. They are
large, low structures built of brick,
covered with stucco, and always paved
with marble. They are lighted only by
small round skylights set in the cupolas
and provided with greenish panes, which
throw into the rooms dim light, re-
sembling moonlight, and very favorable
to rcpose. A furnace underneath heats
the building by means of pipes which are
run all through the walls even. The
temperature is raised to forty. fifty, and
sixty degrees Centigrade.
After undressing, the bathers envelop
themselves in a long wrap (pcchtumaD,
and make delightfulplunge into cloud
of vapor, which produces, even in the
case of the leanest, profuse and dcbili-
tating perSpiration. One puts on clogs,
which look like small stills, to protect
ones feet from the extreme heat of the
floor. There are large white marble urns
fastened against the wall, which receive
cold and boiling water by separate fau-
Gets; it is around these urns that all the
purifcations commanded by the Koran
are made. Seated upon little cedar
stool, the bather pours upon his head and
body large bowls of water, which he heats
to the desired temperature by the tau-
Gets.
The hamans, of which there are more
than 800 in Stamboul alone, have no
fixed tariff. The charges depend upon
the look and the dress of the bather, ana
vary from two sous to twenty-thrce francs.
Rich pashas sometimes hire them out.
right for their families, and think that if
they pay less than forty Turkish llvrcs
eighteen dollars), they have done some
thing below their dignity, On the other
hand, beggars and poor people are adj
mitted free of charge to certain baths de.
signed for their use; and this is bless
ING to them as well as to their neighbors;
for these periodical ablutions diminish
their extreme flthiness, and arrest the
growth of the vermin nourished at theh
EXPENSE Cosmopolitan.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22

self was to give out the linen and help
with the desserts; old Mrs. Jenkins came
as dishwasher.
"Anything to earn an honest penny" "
said she.
And the mattresses, when off meal-duty,
were to act as chambermaids, under Are
thusa's own direction, so that by night
fall the new staff of attendants were all
on service.
"Well," cried Arethusa, gaily, to Mrs.
Binns, what do you think now2"
81 dunno what to think" said the
landlady, with a sigh of intense re-
lief. "It does seem as if you had witches
blood in your veins, Miss Allen"
The little band of industry worked
we'll under its enthusiastic young leader.
Of course there were some 'hitches, "
some awkwardnesses, few blunders.
What housekeeping machinery was ever
entirely devoid thereof9 But on the
whole it was a distinguished success.
Gorge House had never known better
season. Mrs. Binns's treasury had never
represented a more satisfactory balance.
And when the boarders, driven by keen
October flosts, went away, many of
them had engaged rooms for the ensuing
season.
Mrs. Binns hugged and kissed Are
thusa, with the heartiest good will.
"My DEAR" said she, ''if ever fat old
woman as don't deserve it had a guardian
angel, you're mine. And you'll be here
next season to help me 2 Promise, now"
''Oh, 1 couldn't promise!" faltered
Arethusa. "I am going to Europe next
summer, with-with Mr.. SEWER"
For one second, Mrs. Binns was struck
dumb.
'I might have known it." said she,
recovering herself at last. "There wasn't
never anything going on, but Mark some
how always got mixed up with it. He's
the handsomest fellow hereabouts, as you
are the prettiest girl. I hate to lose you;
but I can't find it in my heart to grudge
your good luck; and I must try and get
along without you as best I can next
summer, but I do hope to gracious that
I shan't have no more strikes.-Saturday
Nlqht.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
Economical, But Small.

No more palpable truth was ever
uttered than that embodied in the dccla-
ration of Il Western paper to the effect
that little item in a newspaper will
frequently make man an enemy to the
paper for life, but it will never stop him
reading it. Never, never, never. 1t
merely changes him from subscriber to
q borrower. We have man in mind
this moment, who got mad at village
newspaper some time ago, and ordered
his copy discontinued; but he no more
misses dropping in at neighbor's place
of business on Thursday afternoon, and
reading the paper-sometimes before the
owner has opened it-than he does
answering to roll-call at dinner time. It's
economical, of course, but it is pretty
small, for all that.-Lgon (M ~ Repu6'
lcan.
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22
The Strike at Groton Gorge
BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES.

Arethusa Allen was only eighteen
when she came to Groton Gorge to take
charge of the district school-a slight,
dark-eyed slip of thing, with a low
voice, and such shy, timid way, that
the big girls and the rebellious boys at
once jumped to the conclusion that she
would be conquered at once in her ca
pacity of ''school-ma'am."
. They discovered their mistake, how
ever, in very brief-period of time. Miss
Allen might be quiet, but she had the
spirit of Joan Of Arc. She reduced her
little flock to order, and she kept them
there, too.
Mrs. Binns, who presided over the
Gorge House, also bore testimony in
behalf of Arethusa Allen.
II didn't s'pose, when I first see her,
that she would amount to arrow of PIN"
said Mrs. Binns, who weighed three
hundred pounds, and stood five feet
eight in her stockings. "a slim, school
girl-lookin' creetur like that. And I
hadn't room to spare, and didn't see
how could possibly accommodate her.
But she spoke up so pretty-likc, that she
hadn't no friends and didn't know where
to 20, so saysI: If you don't mind a
room over the laundry, l can clear out
some of the stores and put up a cot-bed
till the season is over. It's noisy place
daytimes, says I, with them Chinese
cackling and screechin', but it's still and
peaceable of nights. And if you'll help
me make out the bills and keep the ac-
counts, Miss Allen says I, I'll consider
it in your board, for amt no scholar
and never was
Mrs. Binns was an ungainly creature
to look at, but she was as beautiful at
heart as the Venus di Medici's self, and
Arethusa soon felt herself at home in the
little room over the laundry, whose
windows looked out at the thread-like
fall of silver cascade and the unfathom-
able gloom of the fir glens beyond.
For Groton Gorge was as lovely place as
ever leaned from mountain plateau over
the misty valley below; and the Groton
House was full of city boarders.
Nor was the domestic staff contempt
ible. Mrs. Binns had all her servants
from the city during the summer season,
and to all appearances, everything went
on velvet.
Until one foggy August morning,
when Mrs. Binns awakened to find her
self racked in every joint by acute
rheumatism, and utterly incapable of
moving.
She sent for Mrs. Mackenzie, the cook,
to give the days orders; but Mrs.
Mackenzie did not wait to hear about
roasting chickens and joints of spring
lamb, before she began on her own ac'
count.
Sorry to inconvenience you, ma'am.
said Mrs. Mackenzie, with her arms
akimbo; "but we ladies and gentlemen
down stairs have concluded to ask fol
An increase of salary. And Unit! ~,
The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-06-22

Censure pardons the ravens, but re-
bnkcs the doves.
Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-04-11
TEXAS PARALYZED.
Senator Reagan Comes Out SIuarely In
Favor of Prohibition.

Senator Reagan Comes Out Spuarely IN
Favor of Prohibition.
GALVESTON, Ten, April 9.-The pro-
hbition question is rapidly assuming a
front rank among the political issues of
Texas.
The late Legislature passed an act sub
hitting this question to vote of the peo-
pie in August,
The nti-ProhibitiOniste are organizing
for the battle. Chief among them is ex-
Lieutenant Governor Gibbs, of Dallas;
Hon. Walter Gresham, of Galveston, and
politicians Of lesser note, who have con-
stituted themselves a committee repre-
senting the Democracy of Texas, and are
inviting prominent Democrats to attend 4
meeting on the Both inst for the purpose
of calling convention in May TO set
forth clearly and universally the time
honored principles OF Democracy IN its OPP
position to all forms of sumptury legisla-
ton.
The Ne,rS prints to-day an open letter
from Senator John IL. Reagan replying 10
the invitation of the committee to attend
the coming meeting.
Reagan's letter will produce a genuine
sensation in the political world of Texas.
He comes out squarely in favor of pTOhibi-
ton and deals the opposition some herCu-
l.. .t,
Two years ago Mr.. Reagan stood beside
Senator Coke, Governor Ireland, Congress
man Mills and other prominent Democrats
in strenuOusly opposing the growth OF the
prohibition idea, on the ground that it
was a sacred principle of the Democracy
to oppose sumptuary laws of whatever
character.
Reagan's complete change OF views on
this point surprises even his nearest friends.
After plcturing at length the wretchedness
and dshOnOr to he encountered in every
community resulting from the use of liquor,
the Senator says: IL must express my re-
greet that any effort has been made to make
party question of prohibition, and espe-
cially do regret that Democrats should
seek to identify that great aud grand his
tOriC party with the fate of the whisky shop
drunkapls and criminals"
Viewing the question from Jeffersonian
standpoint, the Senator continues: There
is a broad difference between laws which
interfere with legitimate trade and such as
would interfere with the purchase and sale
of necessary food, drink and raimeni,
called sumptuary laws, and laws which
have for their object the prevention and
punishment of crime and the preservation
of public morals and decenCy; and think
it hardly Just to the memory of Mr. ,Teffer
son to assume that he would not have rec
OgniZed the distinction"
A dispatch from Dallas says: The Wits.
| kymen's State Executive Committee mel
here to-day with closed doors. 1t has
leaked out that they are debating whether
they shall make n local fight merely al
over the State, or organize for State con
test with a full-rigged committee and {
bevy of orators. The presence here of sew
eral Republican leaders suggests the ides
that that party will use the present con
test to break down the Democratic party
They want the prohibition question made
Democratic party issue, and the Demo
crcts are fighting shy Ofthis.